Willie and Trigger

I finally fulfilled a personal goal to see Willie Nelson before I die (because I know Willie will never die) last evening at the GCS Ballpark across the river.

Growing up in California, camping trips meant listening to Willie on the drive to the lake or mountains. Heck, it still does when I join my mom in Tahoe.

With a huge Tejas flag as his backdrop, Willie poured through his hits in succession, at times with shorter pauses than my iTunes player. His penchant for singing ahead of the beat was a little extreme at times, but the band always caught up to him. He chose his spots to hit the high notes, but for the most part, the 76-year-old sounded as good as ever.

The crowd swooned on ballads like ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’ and ‘Always on My Mind.’ They clapped and stomped to ‘Whiskey River’ and ‘If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time.’ It was a old time singalong on ‘I Saw the Light’ and ‘I’ll fly Away.’

His beat up guitar “Trigger” was in fine form — sound-wise anyway — as he played flamenco-inflected solos during each song.

For more (read: better) photos, click here and Daniel D’s review is here.